Re Common Mynah - attack on Possum
Several years ago I heard a terrific kerfuffle in our neighbours' large
cypress tree. Binoculars showed that a large gang of Common Mynahs were
making the fuss, and that they were chasing, pecking and persecuting a
small mammal which was bounding wildly about the branches, apparently in
a desperate state of alarm. More Mynahs kept arriving, attracted by the
racket of alarm calls. When I got closer to the tree I found the victim
was a Common Ringtail Possum. After several minutes, it was able to take
cover in a possum-nest in the upper branches. The Mynahs seemed to lose
interest once it was not visible, and eventually left.
A Ringtail was found dead under the tree a few days later. A cat could
have been the predator. I wondered if it had been injured enough by the
Mynahs to make it more vulnerable, but of course I had no way of knowing
if it was the same possum. I felt certain that the Mynahs would
eventually have killed it if it had not been able to hide from them.
Anthea Fleming in Melbourne
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